Joe Lieberman for Vice President?

There’s been some discussion on the internet lrecently of the possibility that John McCain will select his friend Joe Lieberman for the number spot on the ticket. I’m a big Lieberman fan, and the issues he’s great on — foreign policy and national security — are the issues that matter most to me. Even so, I’d be pretty dismayed at the prospect of having a virtually down-the-line domestic policy liberal in line to succeed McCain.

If I feel this way, I can only imagine how the more ardent social conservatives in the party would — Mike Huckabee’s core supporters, for example — would react. Some have pointed out that, according to polls, McCain has cemented that vote. But answers provided to pollsters in August are non-binding, and probably not very indicative when offered before the candidate in question does something as drastic (in the view of some social conservatives) as selecting a pro-abortion liberal as his running mate.

Tapping Lieberman is the kind of move McCain might be well-advised to consider if he were running far behind Obama and needed to shake things up. But McCain trails Obama by only a few points. This isn’t fourth down and 20; it’s more like second down and 8. McCain doesn’t need to throw a hail Mary, and I’m pretty confident that he won’t.

JOHN adds: I assume you can’t get elected President without having some political skills, and no one with any political sense would think it makes sense to choose a liberal Democrat as a Republican Veep. No one, certainly, is suggesting that Barack Obama should pick a Republican as a running mate. Let’s hope the Lieberman boomlet dies out quickly.